I am an international student at Pasadena City College who comes from China. This essay aims to discuss the obstacles, which I met during my learning experience at the college. The primary focus is on cultural differences and their influence on the educational process.
One of the primary obstacles that harm my learning circumstances is the language. It may sound obvious, but it is an immensely important part of any communication, especially in an educational institution. Therefore, if you are not proficient in the language of your study, the struggle is inevitable. Firstly, it should be mentioned that the learning material was present to students in advanced English. While I obtain a relatively profound understanding of the text when I am reading it, the perception of the spoken information is significantly harder for me. While my native-speaking classmates were capable of taking notes, listening, and receiving information simultaneously, I was often confused since I was missing a lot of critically important points. Also, I was embarrassed to ask the professor to repeat a particular sentence several times during the lecture.
Another problem, which is connected to the language, is informal communication with peers. It is worth mentioning that this aspect of my college experience – the campus life is related to several other discussed issues later. However, in this paragraph, I consider the differences in language proficiency beyond mere listening and speaking skills. People who speak the language as natives have an integral knowledge of how the language work. Even if they make some grammatical mistakes, they are always aware of linguistic and semantic characteristics such as appropriateness, context, and humor. Many jokes were not clear for me, and numerous cultural references, which were too specific to understand with my limited knowledge of American pop culture.
Further, it is possible to mention another critical aspect, which hurt my college’s learning experience. It would not be surprising to claim that I missed my home (in a broader interpretation, which includes family and friends) and my homeland as a whole. This aspect is also very complicated since it comprises numerous concerns. First of all, it is an intense emotional pressure of leaving the habitual way of life and transfer into entirely new circumstances. It is possible to connect with old friends through the Internet; however, it is not enough sometimes. Secondly, it is not easy to make new friends because people tend to be less interested in friendship with people outside of their culture. As the most extreme manifestation of such attitude, I have heard racist statements about me. Even though they were presented in the form of jokes, and people might not have the intention to insult me, it was considerably depressing.
Nevertheless, I have to assume that the overall impression of my learning experience at Pasadena City College has a positive tonality. This essay was dedicated to the obstacles and problems, which I have met at college. However, this topic only focuses on one side of things, while the enjoyable aspects were also presented in my life in Pasadena. In conclusion, I want to say that my learning experience had a very positive impression on me, despite the obstacles I described.